Blackberry dumplings are Julian's perennial choice for birthday dessert. Part of the reason we postponed his birthday until Sunday was because his actual birthday allowed no time for making and/or enjoying this special birthday tradition.
The recipe is fairly simple {it came to me in my family cookbook scrapbook made by my sister-in-law and gifted upon our engagement} but the procedure is what counts. It is the perfect combination between pie and cobbler, despite that it is called cobbler on the recipe. It's summer on a spoon, any time of the year.
Tips and Tricks (that you would have picked up if your Granny showed you how to do this):
- Find the juiciest berries possible. Plumper berries make more gooey berry sauce. Julian maintains that this is the perfect way to use seedy, wild, roadside-foraged berries. Do that if it is what you have, but I am kind of fussy about seeds.
- This recipe makes eight dumplings and should fit perfectly into a 9x13 dish.
- When the recipe lists "two pie pastry recipes," it means two full DOUBLE-CRUST pie pastries. You can buy them from the shop but this means two boxes of pastry, not two pieces. I just double this recipe for mine.
- Knowing the exact measurements depends on a great many things. The recipe is a good guide, but use your better judgement when it comes to how much to put in each dumpling. I generally only put three tablespoons of sugar in each dumpling and I generally put as many berries as will rest in my cupped hand.
- Roll the pastry out between two pieces of wax paper. Peel off the top sheet of the wax paper, put the fillings on top of the pastry, then use the edge of a butter knife to help you peel the pastry off the bottom sheet of wax paper, up and over the berries, apple-dumplin'-style. I reuse the same two sheets of wax paper for the whole batch.
- My new rolling pin {Christmas gift from Julian} made this whole process much easier, almost enjoyable. I highly recommend it. I used the 1/6" ring.
- It doesn't hurt to give the dumplings a little milk/egg wash prior to baking and shake on some sparkly sugar to top it off.
- Serve hot, room temp, or cold. Stores well just left on the counter, covered... they won't last long enough to worry about.
Questions? Feeling inspired?
It looks so yummy. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
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